Neighbours crew industrial campaign to commence

Crew working on Australia’s iconic TV series, Neighbours, will take their first industrial action on Friday as part of their campaign for a collective agreement.

Crew union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) , yesterday notified the company that members, who comprise about half of the production workforce, will hold a 15 minute stop-work meeting this Friday as a symbolic action to show they are genuine and serious about their concerns.

Louise Connor, the Victoria branch secretary of MEAA, said that the crews’ action was tempered and reasonable.

Fremantle (FMA) wrote to employees last week outlining the full range of their industrial responses, pointing out that, ‘FMA has the right to consider locking (the workers taking action) out of the Nunawading site immediately.’

“Our members will hold a symbolic action on Friday, and, yes, Fremantle can lock people out indefinitely but that’s like turning the industrial dial up to 11. It’s a gross overreaction to what most people would consider a request for basic workplace rights,” Connor said.

“We are asking that the commitment shown by a skilled and dedicated workforce is recognised in the form of basic job security and a modest annual pay rise.”